Death Game: Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #3) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,14
say. But if I focused hard enough, any random thought was effective. Thinking of lavender bushes, I placed my hand atop the table on the Sundulus side.
“Bastards,” Dithis seethed. “Which one?”
“Kyros,” I answered, feeling a twinge of guilt as his name passed my lips.
Hothen sighed. “He’s one of the worst. The eldest son, as I’m sure you know by now. I am so sorry, Basi dear. The trapping was a permanent one?”
The trapping. Singular.
I held up four fingers.
“Four,” Lady Treena said, frowning.
Syrre held a hand to her pale cheek. “Four times, Treena. Is that what you mean, Basilia? He did it four times?”
Hurrying around the table with a speed belying her age, Dame Burke placed yes and no cards before me. These cards were a really good idea. It would make the coming explanation so much easier.
Maybe if I’d had them with Tommy, she’d still be here.
I tapped a finger on yes. I could point to normal words.
A heavy tension filled the room at that revelation.
When it came to the people around this table, I’d had nothing from my grandmother to go on. Fred merely said that she met her friends every week. But if they were in the power of the clans, each of them had to report in some way—probably to the royals or their seconds. I needed to know who they were compelled by and how tightly. My grandmother may have been the ringleader because she wasn’t controlled in any way, but I’d continue her work regardless of my compelled state. That meant I had to feel out how much I could tell the others.
“I need information on each of you,” I told them.
“You’re taking the third seat?” Sir Olythieu’s gaze sharpened.
“Give me the information and I’ll answer that question,” I replied, settling back.
He smiled. “Very good. Burke, do we have the file from when we first started?”
Dame Burke pursed her lips. Her restraints had to be the loosest. She seemed to be the nominated spokesperson. “I’ll dig it up and update it.”
She cut me a look. “And none of us have orders to freely report. We answer during interrogation, and only to their direct questions, which are always business based. In fact, most of us have minimal contact with the beasts now they’ve caged our underlings. Nothing more than a phone call every few months. Olythieu and Lady Treena have it the worst. They’re pulled in for questioning once or twice every year.”
That wasn’t surprising. Neither of them was richer than me, but their assets were entirely located in Bluff City, whereas Grandmother had moved the vast majority of ours international. Their estates were far more valuable in Ingenium than mine. And when it came to power and influence, Lady Treena was mayor for over seventeen years before retiring. Her father was mayor in his time. And her grandfather. Five generations ago, the head of their family had married a woman of vast mining fortune.
“We need to meet twice weekly until I’m up to date,” I announced. “This is around my hours for Live Right Realty.”
Kyros never eliminated that term from my repertoire. Kind of hard to if he wanted me to secure properties.
“You’re working there?” Treena said. “We thought you were trapped. That’s why Rory Senrite was on such familiar terms with you at the NJB function.”
Uhm, kind of.
“I don’t just secure houses.” Hmm, how best to tell them I worked on Level 66 with the royals?
Hothen stiffened. “What hours do you work?”
Dithis moved to place a clock before me. My grandmother had fondly referred to the man as Pie because he had his fingers in so many. There wasn’t any Bluff City industry that Mr Dithis’s wealth didn’t touch.
I was able to answer that without help. “Midnight until 3:30 a.m. Weekdays.”
“You’re there for the…” He trailed off, eyes lighting up.
The roll? Yes.
My shoulders sagged. It was such a fucking relief to get some of this out, no matter how frustrating the process. Once they knew my situation, and I knew theirs, things would move faster. But to have their support—even their knowledge of what being compelled felt like—it meant everything to me right now.
“Wait. You’re in the place after it too.” Mrs Syrre gasped.
The six sets of eyes that unofficially ruled Bluff City alongside my family estate watched me.
“Yes,” I answered, then thought of Queen Elizabeth. “Royals.”
Dame Burke swore long and hard. “You’re in on the strategy meetings with the royal siblings.”